From the garden this week

The garden is in full swing, and it's turning out to be a good year for tomatoes. I'm glad I planted some sturdy hybrid determinate types, because they're early and produce a lot of fruit all at once. With the exception of one tiny rain-split Berkeley Tie Dye (middle top on the first photo) all of the tomatoes I've gotten so far have been determinates. But! My eight heirloom plants are also loaded with fruit but taking forever to start ripening. Soon!

Here's what I've picked over the last four or five days:

We've also picked a LOT of green beans; this is just a small handful I got the other day. 

Still going strong.

There are about a dozen cucumbers in the fridge at the moment, but now the vines are almost worn out. It's turning out to be a disappointing year for cucumber production, but I'd rather have a bounty of tomatoes anyway. Last year there were a ton of cucumbers, but the tomatoes did diddly-squat. Now that's disappointing.

So, on to peppers! I haven't picked any yet, because I like to wait until they're mostly orange and red, but there are tons and tons of Jalapenos, Serranoes, Cowhorns, Cayennes, Poblanos, Tabascos, and Giant Marconi peppers...

 

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These pretty Tabasco peppers are our favorite, just for the beauty of the plant. It's hard to get a good photo of them because it's such a low, compact plant. 

And when someone named these peppers "Giant Marconi", they weren't lying! Look at the size of those monsters!

Cowhorns.

The 2025 garden

The vegetable garden is finally all planted! This year I have more things planted in it than ever before, and it's a combination of the older raised bed, a new raised bed, and several containers, including a small plastic kiddie pool where I'm growing Bibb lettuce and baby carrots. As an experiment, we're even growing a little bit of corn! Gregg's been pestering me to try growing corn for a while now, ever since he found out a friend of his grows a few small patches of it in his backyard garden and has success. After homegrown tomatoes, sweet corn is his favorite summer garden treat. When we saw some 6-packs of corn seedlings ("Peaches and Cream" variety) at Lowe's the other day, I thought what the heck. They were $5.99 and Gregg was excited by the idea. Since it was an impulse buy we hadn't planned where to put it, though. Our solution made me laugh: we used the large empty spaces on either side of my new rose! *

Anyway, here's the list of what's growing in my garden this year:

Tomatoes:

Nine heirlooms started from seed: 3 Eva Purple Ball, 3 Hillbilly Potato Leaf, 2 Berkeley Tie Dye, 1 Mexico Midget Cherry.

Five hybrid determinates bought as seedlings: 1 Heatmaster, 2 Bush Goliath, 1 Better Bush, 1 Roma.

Peppers:

One each of Serrano, Jalapeno, Mammoth Jalapeno, Tabasco, Cowhorn, Giant Marconi, and Sheepnose Pimento.

Cucumbers: two Boston Pickling and one Armenian, all planted in large containers.  

Also:

Rattlesnake beans (thanks Mary!), Yellow Crookneck squash, Aunt Mae's Bibb lettuce, and Paris Market carrots. Peaches and Cream corn. 

I mixed together three different varieties/packets of marigold seeds and planted them down the center of the two raised beds to go along with the Marietta marigolds that have reseeded themselves from last year. I like using a living mulch of marigolds around my tomatoes to deter pests and attract pollinators. I've got parsley and basil started from seed that's close to ready to put in the ground, too. 

Here's a few pictures of the garden along with a chart I drew to keep the placement of everything straight. 

* We made a bed for Eustacia Vye that will be big enough to accommodate her plus two more English shrub roses next year. I haven't even seen the first flower yet and I'm already obsessing over what the next two roses will be. I can see how the madness begins!

She's leafing out! 

Spring garden update

The baby crabapple tree has doubled in size this year, and for the first time, it has a few flowers! Aren't they pretty? Unfortunately, the deer came back night before last and ate a bunch of the tender new leaves. I was so mad when I walked outside yesterday morning and saw the damage! Apparently, apple trees of all types are irresistible to deer. 

The tree will never amount to much without protection while it's young and just starting to grow. With that in mind I went to Lowe's in the afternoon and bought four seven-foot-tall garden stakes. Along with a big roll of fine mesh bird netting that we had stashed in the garage, they make a decent protective "cage" to keep hungry wildlife out. It's not the greatest looking thing in the world, but it should do the job. 

In other garden news, I've been hardening off my tomato and pepper plants and preparing the bed for planting. I started some herb seeds (basil, parsley, and oregano) in pots, sowed borage seeds in the bed in front of the porch, and planted marigold seeds in the raised bed between the spaces where the tomatoes will go. And I planted rattlesnake beans! (Thank you again, Mary, for sharing those with me!) I've been at home on spring break this week and the weather has been wonderful for working outside. Going back to the office next week is going to be hard!

Solstice garden update

 Happy Solstice, everyone! There's been a short spell of fabulous weather here, with lower temperatures and much lower humidity that has everyone saying, "If only it could be this way all summer!" Today is the last day before another run of record-breaking heat begins, so we'd best enjoy it while we can.

I'm feeling 100% better. I had a follow up with the doctor yesterday morning and my lungs were clear. I have a new medication I'm trying for allergies/asthma while I wait for a call from the allergist to set up a consultation. Thanks to everyone for all the good wishes and kindness! Here's hoping I'm done with being sick for a good long time.

My garden is looking great! I've been out there working on it as much as possible. There's always something to do, and I've found that the key to success (besides the stuff that's just dumb luck, like weather conditions) is spending some time every single day seeing to it. Timely watering, pruning for air flow, tying up drooping vines, looking for the first signs of pests or disease to address any problems early--this kind of careful attention pays dividends. Of course, I still have a lot to learn about gardening, but that's one of the joys of it all. Being out there working in the dirt and sunshine is like meditation for me!

As you can see, we really need to weed around the raised bed and cut the grass. Look how tall the banana plants (on the left) are, though!

The cucumber plants are looking good so far.

We'll have peppers very soon.

Now if the tomatoes would just start to ripen!

Just before I snapped this last picture, I watched the dragonfly devour a tiny white moth-looking insect. Dragonflies are friendly little garden buddies--to humans, anyway.

Catching up

 I'm home sick today. After almost two weeks of dealing with shortness of breath, a dry cough, chills, and a general feeling of being unwell, I called the doctor Tuesday afternoon and made an appointment for yesterday. 

I was pretty sure I didn't have Covid, because I'd taken two at-home tests that were negative. The doctor confirmed that it wasn't that (thank goodness) but just as I expected it was an exacerbation of seasonal allergies that led to an exacerbation of asthma. He also thought I might have the beginning of a bacterial infection in my lungs. I came home with prescriptions for prednisone, antibiotics, a new inhaler, a nasal spray, and a note excusing me from work for the rest of yesterday afternoon and today. 

One thing the doctor noticed worries me a little. My blood pressure was very high, particularly the bottom number. This was very unusual. He didn't seem too worried about it, given that I'd been feeling so bad and struggling to get good deep breaths, but it bears watching. One thing I didn't tell the doctor is that when I left work the hour before, I was very angry and upset. The office women were being horribly rude to me (they were mad they'd have to cover my desk and the front door while I was gone). Normally I can shrug off their toxic behavior, but when I'm not feeling well physically that becomes harder to do. On Tuesday when I first made the appointment and let everyone know I'd have to leave for a couple of hours, the principal overheard one of them going off on me about it and he was pissed. He called me at home that night and told me he intended to address their nasty attitudes. He said, "You work way too hard to be treated that way." Apparently he hadn't had time yet (yesterday morning) to talk to them, and when it was time for me to leave for the appointment they were incredibly rude about it. I was in tears when I left, and plenty mad, too. I'm so glad the doctor told me not to go back to work afterwards and to take today off too! Let them suffer for treating me like dirt! Hopefully by the time I go back on Friday the principal will have addressed the problem with them. In any case, I wonder if getting so emotionally upset had anything to do with my crazy high blood pressure reading? Gregg thinks it's definitely possible. When I'm not feeling so physically poor I should be able to ignore them and let it go, like usual. I don't expect things to change much, but I've gotten very good (most of the time) at shrugging it off.

I made a mistake in taking the first dose of prednisone with dinner last night. I probably didn't get over 3 or 4 hours of (broken) sleep. I'll be taking today's dose as soon as I eat breakfast! I already feel a good bit better despite the lack of sleep--prednisone is like a miracle drug for me. My eczema clears up, my allergies dry up, and I feel much better, fast, whenever I take it. I've decided to get a referral to an allergist and to talk to them about getting a full range of allergy testing and starting allergy shots. We'll see how that works out.

I meant to post last week as my spring break was winding down. They had the plant and flower festival at the farmer's market, and I went out and bought three blueberry shrubs to plant over by my raised garden bed. I got two of the variety "Premier" and one of "Pink Lemonade". The Pink Lemonade is supposed to get pink berries instead of blue, and they're supposed to be twice as sweet as the blues. We shall see! My little quarter-acre "homestead" (Haha) is coming along nicely. Even the crabapple tree I planted in front is finally, finally getting some tiny new leaves. It was a bare stick for so long I was beginning to despair that it was really alive and not merely dormant! The fig tree I planted is growing nicely. I expect by next year I should get a few figs from it. In summer garden news, I've been getting loads of lettuce and radishes, the carrots are almost ready to harvest, my tomato and pepper seedlings are ready to be planted out, the potato vines are sprawling all over the place, and my cucumbers and snow peas are finally sprouting. My gardening brings me a lot of joy.

One last thing of note from last week. On Saturday Marla and Martina came over for a couple of hours. I almost canceled because I wasn't feeling too hot, but I really wanted to see them. Marla brought little Carsen with her, too! That child is growing up fast! She'll be four next month and she's got that crazy little kid energy. Between her and the puppy chasing each other through the house, George trying to stay out of the way, and Marco getting excited and wanting to be in the middle of everything, it was like a circus over here for a little while!

She's loved the big aquarium since she was a baby. Gregg keeps telling Marla she needs a tank of her own. To which Marla responds, "And is Uncle Gregg coming to take care of it for us?" :)

This next picture was typical of the visit!

I don't know about Carsen, but Poppy was worn out when they left.

Marco loved every minute of the chaos.

George was a very good boy, as usual. He's been so patient with Poppy, and he's always glad to see Martina and Marla and even little Carsen. Here he is saying goodbye to Carsen when her daddy came to pick her up. After she left, we all had wine and adult conversation.

How we fared

 Here's how I prepared for last night's freeze:

This morning when we got up it was 23 degrees outside! I'm pleased to say that my plants were almost completely unscathed despite the bitter cold. The only loss was a few leaves on the fig tree (over where you can see a few leaves peeking out from the cardboard) but the majority of them were fine. The salad garden looked green and cheerful when I pulled back the tarp this morning, too. Tonight it's supposed to get just to freezing again, so I've covered everything back up now that the sun is going down.

One last thing....why, why, why must we continue to observe Daylight Savings Time?! I hate changing the time both times we do it in a year. I wish the powers that be would just pick one or the other and leave well enough alone!

Playing in the dirt

It's a little warmer here this weekend than it's been in a while. Spring is right around the corner no matter what the calendar says, and by the first of March it will be time to start seeds indoors for planting out six weeks or so later. Early tomorrow morning Gregg and I will be picking up three or four truckloads of dirt to finish filling the raised garden bed. It's almost halfway full from the first two loads, and I'm eager to have it done. Next week I'll place my seed order for the tomatoes, peppers, herbs and flowers I'm planning to grow this year.

Speaking of placing orders, today I placed an order for my Valentine's Day gift from Gregg: a crabapple tree! I ended up choosing a variety called Centurion. I told him last week that while I love cut flowers, this year I'd rather we spent that money on things I could plant in my yard and garden!

Once it arrives (supposedly by February 21...I ordered from Home Depot) and is in the ground, we'll chop down the dying dogwood tree that's currently in our front yard. 

I got a text last week from our friend Carol (the retired artist and avid gardener who gave me the start of my fig tree) asking if I might be interested in some camellias. Of course I said YES! She has them growing in huge wild tangles along one side of her property and she was digging up some to share with friends. I went over there today and picked up a big bundle of them. The area where she dug them up has several colors, so I'm not sure what we'll end up with. My favorites have white flowers with pale pink stripes in them, but they're all nice. The seedlings she gave me are three or four feet high and have green flower buds on them, so we should soon know! I hope they'll grow and thrive. Before I left Carol said, "My mother always said that flowers shared with friendship and good wishes will always bloom!" 

Here's one more small bit of gardening news. I bought a big bag of deeply discounted daffodil bulbs over Christmas and planted them on New Year's Day. I've been hoping they didn't get planted too late to bloom this year. Well, earlier today I went out to check, and the first quarter inch of green spears are starting to poke up from the ground! Looks like we'll have daffodils next month, after all! 

I'm so glad my favorite season is almost here. 

Just a Thursday update

 Thanks for all the positive feedback on my last post. It made me feel better about how busy I've been just recently. 

Things are still crazy at my job. Not really my job per se; so many students are out due to either having Covid or quarantining because they've had close contact with a person who tested positive that it's almost like last year with the A/B cohort days and some students using the all virtual option. I'll bet anywhere from a quarter to a third of our student body is out right now, and at the rate things are going I don't see how we'll manage to keep the schools open until Christmas break. A kid at one of our three public high schools actually died last week. It was a 15 year old girl who had some pre-existing health conditions, but it was Covid that killed her. Several staff members at our school have been out sick, and a couple ended up going to the hospital. This includes my teacher friend with MS. I've been so worried about her. She wasn't able to take the vaccine due to her MS treatments and it's monstrous that she had to come to work with the Delta variant raging in this community. I saw the other day that the ACLU is suing the state of South Carolina over the ban on mask mandates and virtual options for school, saying that it denies medically fragile students their rights to a public education. And it damn well does! We'll see what happens.

But my job is okay. I'm staying as safe as possible. Without the awful coworker from last year around things feel much better and the work is a little bit more fairly divided. And hey! I get a lunch break now! That's progress. 

Not much to report on the home front. I picked the last four (half green) Brandywine tomatoes the other day and now the garden is ready to be torn down and cleaned up. I harvested an astonishing 53 pounds of tomatoes this year and more jalapenos than I know what to do with. The last of those (the jalapenos) need to be picked and pickled if I can manage to find any canning jars to put them in.  I'm out and they're hard to find this year. I'm currently drying two massive ristras of peppers and don't need any more of those. I can't believe how much four plants have produced!

 

Thursday afternoon

It's a typical late-July day in South Carolina. Hot and humid, with hazy skies that are especially thick looking today because (believe it or not) smoke in the atmosphere from the wildfires 3000 miles away has reached us. Except for a quick early morning walk with George, watering the garden, and a late afternoon dash to the grocery store (in the un-air conditioned truck, ugh!) I've been hibernating in the house with the a/c most of the day.

While outside watering the garden this morning, I saw a beautiful and new-to-me butterfly. I believe it was a Red-Spotted Purple, and I wanted to get a picture of it to show you. Instead, here's an image I found online:

    

                                                Limenitis arthemis astyanax

I had plenty of opportunity to take a picture of my particular specimen, but I decided to spare you. He was perched on top of a giant pile of dog turds and was not moving.* Apparently this is a thing butterflies do sometimes. But anyway, you're welcome. 

In other garden news, today I harvested my 80th individual tomato! I've only had a gram scale to weigh them with (don't ask) so I haven't totaled up the number of ounces or pounds, but I believe I've had at least 40 pounds of tomatoes. As soon as the season ends I'll total everything up, but in the meantime it's 80 fruits, approximately 40 pounds and counting. Most of my plants are still growing and setting fruit. This is almost unheard of in this area. 

Another 1+ pound Mr. Stripey.  

Mr. Stripey, sliced. I love the colors. It's a mild, sweet tomato.

Mr. Stripey and a couple of others are taller than me, now.

And my bananas! Have I mentioned that my bananas are blowing up? They're also taller than me these days.

Last but not least, I had to share a picture of Marco for all his fans out there. Here he is posing beside one of the bananas. He had just flown a circle around the porch and landed there. If we didn't have screen to stop him, I assure you he'd be out in the wild right now. 

*Doesn't this seem like some sort of allegory for all of Life?

Mid-July harvest, and a garden pest.

My garden continues to flourish! The tomatoes are really starting to come ripe now, as you can see in the following photos. Tomorrow I'm thinking of making some homemade salsa to try to use up some of the extras, because we're about to be overwhelmed. We're also still getting loads of peppers, the occasional cucumber, and yesterday the very first cantaloupe!

Our counter runneth over.

A perfect Brandywine on the left, and the biggest tomato I've gotten so far this year on the right--a Red Beefsteak weighing in at just under a pound.

I love the gorgeous color on the Mr. Stripey. It's the big yellow one on the left with the pink blush. They look so pretty sliced, and the flavor is sweet and slightly fruity. We've had a nice assortment of varieties to try this year!

So I've had to deal with a few minor pests in my garden, small hornworms and some kind of little black worms that love to chew on unripe tomatoes and damage them. I've been able to keep both under control with close observation and hand picking, and I thought I'd make it through the season mostly unscathed. Well, lo and behold, the real pest and danger to my tomatoes lives inside the house:

I take all my tomatoes straight to the dining room table after I pick them for weighing and recording in my garden journal. Yesterday I turned my back for less than a minute and you can see for yourself what happened!

How we spent the 4th

 It was a nice long weekend here. We got some work done in the yard and garden, spent extra time with Marco on the porch, took George for nice walks around the neighborhood, and grilled out on Sunday. Later that night lots of our neighbors blew up fireworks, and for the first time it made George nervous. We stayed inside with him, watching tv with the volume up a bit. Downton Abbey has come to Netflix so we've been watching a few episodes every night recently.

Our 4th of July feast from the grill. Hotdogs, sausages, sweet corn (grilled in the husk), tomatoes and cucumbers from my garden, and potatoes grilled with rosemary, parsley, sea salt, and olive oil. Obviously this was enough food for two or three meals!

The ornamental pomegranate is blooming. Isn't that a lovely shade of orange? The miniature roses are finishing up a second flush of blooms, too.

We've finally harvested a couple of German Queen tomatoes.  They're meaty with a full tomato flavor and very few seeds. Definitely a variety to consider again for next year!

The Mr. Stripey tomatoes are starting to ripen. We haven't tasted this one, yet. It won't be long.

And before this month is out, we'll be eating our own cantaloupes. I'm ridiculously excited about it!
 

I hope you've all had a good weekend, too!